b.a.r.t. headquarters. >> that's going to do it for us. on our broadcast tonight -- judgment day for the man who held three young women captive for a decade. a dramatic day in court as one of the women bravely confronts her captor and the man described as a monster is allowed to speak at length. walking free, despite warnings from the u.s. not to do it. russia has given a home to nsa leaker eard snowden and the showdown with the u.s. just got worse. >> new parts. the choice millions of us are making to get out of chronic knee pain and get new ones installed. tonight, dr. nancy snyderman on one of the most popular surgeries for americans. some who put it off for far too long. and making history. a woman who has already broken barriers now on the verge of going where no woman has ever gone before. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. as it unfolded in court today, in cleveland, ohio, a live television audience was allowed to see a man who has been described as a monster, who for over a decade held young prisoners in his home. and during his long and rambling remarks in court, he said he was sick and he appropriated the language of the addiction treatment culture to paint himself as a victim. as he tried to contend the girls he kept chained up in his home were somehow content. it was tough to watch at times especially when one of his brave victims spoke. now he will live out his remaining days behind bars as part of a plea deal. it is where we begin tonight. nbc's kate snow is live in cleveland. kate, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. the women that he held in that house for over ten years all kept diaries which helped prosecutors lay out the case against ariel castro. today, they methodically went

through the evidence all the crimes that ariel castro has admitted to, and the survivors had a chance to speak. amanda berry, gina dejesus chose to speak through family members, but michelle knight was there in person. >> reporter: just writing the words, michelle knight said, had given her strength. >> i cried every night. i was so alone. >> reporter: the strength to fight back tears and describe 11 horrific years. >> days never got shorter. days turned into nights. nights turned into days. years turned into eternity. i knew nobody cared about me. he told me that my family didn't care. >> reporter: the strength to confront ariel castro for the first time since she escaped her prison. >> ariel castro, you took 11 years of my life away. and i have got it back. i spent 11 years in hell.

now your hell is just beginning. >> reporter: witnesses described how michelle knight was abducted in 2002. castro promised a puppy for her young son if she would come inside his home. and for the first time we saw what that inside looked like, bedrooms with toys and musical instruments. but with 99 feet of heavy iron chains strung through the walls to hold the women in place. windows nailed shut. and a crude alarm system on the doors. their only bathrooms plastic toilets, rarely emptied. they were fed just one meal a day. >> they were deprived of mother, of family, of home, of school of ten years in which you make your transition from being a young woman to being a woman. >> reporter: but then came may 6 this year. the 6-year-old girl castro fathered with amanda berry was

running up and down the stairs, this detective said, shouting "daddy left and went to grandma's house." amanda berry saw her chance to escape. one of the first officers on scene described discovering michelle knight still inside hiding behind a curtain. >> she literally launched herself into officer espada's arms. he -- legs, arms, just choking him. and she just kept repeating "you saved us. you saved us." >> reporter: when it was ariel castro's turn to speak, traditionally afforded to any defendant at a sentencing, he rambled for 16:13. >> i am not a monster. i did not prey on these women. [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: he blamed everyone but himself, even his victims and referred to harmony in the home. the judge was incredulous. >> in your mind there was harmony and a happy household. i'm not sure there was anybody else in america that will agree with you. >> reporter: then the sentencing began. >> counts 598 through 653 -- >> reporter: life without parole plus 1,000 years. >> you will be confined for the

remainder of your days. >> reporter: judge michael russo said he hoped the sentence gave the victims some peace. >> after 11 years, i am finally being heard and it's liberating. >> reporter: amanda berry's sister said in court, she craves privacy. gina dejesus's aunt said she wants to go on to high school, to college, and one day fall in love. and then as she was leaving the court, she turned to ariel castro and said in spanish, "may god have mercy on your soul." brian? >> incredible day. we turn to news from overseas tonight. russia today offered at least a temporary home to edward snowden. the american who leaked those government secrets on extensive data mining operations. he was today allowed temporary asylum in russia. that means a ticket out of the airport where he has been living. it has angered the u.s., of course, because he is still wanted here. our chief foreign affairs

correspondent andrea mitchell following all of it in our d.c. newsroom tonight. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the white house is so angry about russian president putin's decision to grant snowden asylum, despite a personal appeal and a call from president obama to send him home to stand trial, that officials are reevaluating whether to hold a planned summit with putin in moscow next month. after more than five weeks in moscow's terminal f, edward snowden is no longer a man without a country. this travel document issued with no warning to the u.s. lets him live in russia for at least a year. the white house did not hide its outrage. >> we are extremely disappointed that the russian government would take this step despite our very clear and lawful requests in public and in private to have mr. snowden expelled to the united states to face the charges against him. >> reporter: why would russia's strongman, vladimir putin risk cooperation with the u.s. over the snowden affair? nbc's jim maceda in moscow --

>> reporter: kremlin watchers say they believe the u.s./russian relationship is just too important to fail, and that the snowden saga will eventually blow over, leaving putin looking strong to fellow russians and president obama on the defensive. >> reporter: but putin always flamboyant even while fishing may have overplayed his hand. >> they could have acted to diffuse this with the united states. they didn't do any of those things. they acted instead to throw a punch at the united states. that is a very serious thing for the relationship. >> reporter: the u.s. already blames putin for continuing to arm syria's president assad. now some senators are demanding the u.s. boycott next winter's olympics in sochi, russia. the leaks keep coming. wednesday the guardian's glen greenwald revealed an nsa search program, called x-keyscore, allegedly enabling the government to analyze e-mails, online chats and browsing histories. the nsa said everything it does is legal. >> we are going to continue our reporting. we have a lot more stories going.

>> reporter: snowden released more secrets in china that could be published. >> he advised me himself when he was in hong kong he gave a part of the material to journalists so that material of course he can't take back. >> reporter: snowden's father says he is grateful to the russian people for taking his son. >> the bottom line is my son could not receive a fair trial in the states today. but there is much more dialogue. this story is not going away. >> reporter: snowden is staying in an undisclosed location in russia. but today the president met with congressional leaders to discuss new limits on the secret surveillance programs, a direct result of snowden's disclosure so far. brian? >> andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom tonight. andrea, thanks. we have another story still developing out of d.c. tonight. word that the state department will order u.s. embassies in dozens of different cities shut down primarily in the middle east and on this coming sunday, notable because it's in nations where sunday would normally be a work day. u.s. officials say in response to a threat they have picked up

on. so far they are not being specific. our justice correspondent pete williams watching all of it also in our d.c. newsroom. pete, good evening. >> brian, good evening. >> reporter: american officials say this is in response to al qaeda-related intelligence from the middle east that was specific about a period of time, and mentioning an unspecified threat to u.s. diplomatic posts overseas. so in response, the state department says it will shut down all embassies this sunday that would normally be open. now, that's mostly in the middle east and north africa, including the big ones in cairo, tel aviv, riyadh, saudi arabia, along with baghdad, kabul, kuwait city. dozens of embassies and consulates. a state department notice says, quote, it is possible we may have additional days of closings as well depending on our analysis. that will be a big challenge for the u.s. government deciding whether to extend the shutdown. because if it goes beyond sunday, as it appears it might, then it would affect american embassies in many countries throughout the world since they would all normally be open on

monday. u.s. officials aren't saying much about the threat just that it was tied to the month long muslim period of fact known as ramadan that end this time of the year. >> pete williams with this late story out of d.c. tonight. pete, thanks. while so many americans are still struggling to get back to where they were, there is some positive economic news to report tonight. new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 last week to 326,000. notable because it is the fewest since january of '08. the unemployment rate for july comes out officially tomorrow. big three automakers reported their best sales numbers since 2006. gm up more than 16% last month. ford and chrysler each gained over 11%. again, pickup truck sales are driving a lot of this. wall street liked the stats today. dow gained 128 closing at a new record. nasdaq up 49. s & p rose 21 closing above 1700 for its first time ever.

a jury has decided that a former wall street trader should pay for his role in the toxic mortgage crisis that was such a big part of the financial meltdown. he is fabrice tourre, a 34-year-old french-born former goldman sachs trader. in the five years since the meltdown the only big banker to get brought down by regulators in a court case. he was found guilty of six of seven counts against him in a civil trial in new york. he faces fines now and possible ban from wall street. still ahead for us tonight, treating chronic knee pain in this country. one of the most common procedures for millions of us making the decision to swap out bad parts for new parts. later, a field goal for a woman on the verge of making history in the nfl.

our health segment tonight aimed right at the heart of the american generation with a mileage problem. too many miles on existing parts, like bad knees. and the need for replacement parts after realizing chronic pain is no way to live.

as our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman reports tonight, sooner or later just about all of us may be facing this choice. and by the way, if starting in a few days time you don't see me around here for a while this is the reason why. >> bone on bone here and here. >> reporter: it is an operation some 650,000 americans will have this year. nearly double the number from ten years ago. total knee replacement surgery is often the last resort for men and women, many of them babyboomers, who have pushed themselves to the point where the cartilage in the knee has worn down. resulting in bone on bone contact and often excruciating pain. brian was playing high school football when he was sidelined by a violent injury. that is him, number 89, offensive end. >> you are a rather private person and yet here we are talking about the impending operation, why? >> i took a helmet to the knee in high school. it reversed my knee. they don't recommend that. i have been in pain for 35

years. i loved playing a team sport, i loved every minute of football. i have paid a very high price for what's been confirmed to be the single worst new jersey high school catholic league football career in history. >> are you ever not in pain? >> no. it is now costing me sleep. i reached a point recently in the last 12 months where i decided this has to happen. so, worst case scenario, if this doesn't go perfectly well, which it will, it can't hurt more than it hurts now. >> reporter: that type of agony doctors say is the turning point for so many people deciding to have total knee replacement surgery. >> he has a very enflamed knee. >> when they get to a point where their quality of life in their estimation is really substantially limited, then they come. >> my soccer team -- >> reporter: 54-year-old thomas apple also injured his knee playing high school sports. and these days, while he can still shoot hoops with his son,

stairs and driving are increasingly a challenge. his wife linda says their social life has also suffered. >> we can't really do those kind of physical things that people do on vacation in terms of let's say hiking and exercise. >> we're living on borrowed time. it is hurting more and more. it is time to get it fixed. >> reporter: while both tom and brian have had other procedures to alleviate the pain, doctors caution this surgery alone is not a solution. here is a look at what any one thinking about total knee replacement should consider. the surgery takes an hour and a half with a hospital stay of about three days. following that, patients must do knee strengthening exercises several times a day to restore mobility. you will be using a walker or crutches. next, plan on missing anywhere from three weeks to three months of work depending on how physically demanding your job is. after six months to a year, most people will be fully recovered and can resume all activities.

two of the big secrets to the success for this surgery, one, being ready for it. being a good qualified patient. and the second thing is really sticking to the rehab afterwards. those exercises make the difference between people who do just okay with the implant and those, frankly, who come out on the back end, brian, and say they have never felt better. i expect that to be you. >> now, a couple of points here. first of all, this is my fourth knee operation. >> right. >> i expect this one to be the charm. i basically wanted folks to know if i disappear for a while, where i am. >> let me show you and folks what you are getting. >> i can't thank you enough for bringing this. >> no problem. we are going to pretend like this is your femur and lower leg. this area is where brian has run out of space, because this plastic part is the normal cartilage. in your case, it is gone. you have bone pushing down on bone. after this is sort of opened, you'll have a new titanium plate, a new plastic cartilage

and composite, and then the knee is going to work like this. and you should have not only normal mobility and normal stability and no pain. >> i am very mindful of what this is not. this is not cancer, it is not a bypass, it's not so many of the health challenges that so many folks face and eventually i will too. it is still really elective surgery. i am so anxious to get it done. to get this behind me. >> you are now joining the 650,000 other people who will have this surgery. the technology is good enough for you to do it now. >> thanks and thanks so much for bringing my little friend. dr. nancy snyderman here with us. >> you are welcome. >> we are back with more in just a moment. look at 'em.

living on cloud nine with that u-verse wireless receiver. you see in my day, when my mom was repainting the house, you couldn't just set up a tv in the basement. i mean, come on! nope. we could only watch tv in the rooms that had a tv outlet. yeah if we wanted to watch tv someplace else, we'd have to go to my aunt sally's. have you ever sat on a plastic covered couch? [ kids cheering ] you're missing a good game over here. those kids wouldn't have lasted one day in our shoes. [ male announcer ] add a wireless receiver. call to get u-verse tv for just $19 a month with qualifying bundles. rethink possible. among visitors to yellowstone national park it is the holy grail, the steamboat geyser, not as famous as old faithful. not faithful at all, in fact. steamboat has a funny way of deciding for itself when to let off steam. and it just did for the first time in eight years. a few folks caught the rare eruption. well, some of them caught it right side up on wednesday. it was a huge thrill at the height of the summer tourist

season. it lasted nine minutes. when this goes off, steamboat is taller than old faithful. up to 300 feet in the air. it is very fickle though. back in 1964, it went off 29 times in a year. while it was once also silent for 50 years at a time. if you watch any c-span at all, then you know the language of the u.s. senate is very formal. more than just fake politeness among archenemies, it is supposed to be a civil place, the upper chamber after all. and it usually is civil if not productive. but sometimes a microphone captures the way senators really talk. as it did today when majority leader was trying to restore order. here now the voice of senator harry reid. >> madam president, the majority leader. >> have the senators sit down and shut up. okay. it's unfair -- >> all righty. after a rare burst of plain

english, the senate went back to its usual business, failing to pass a big bill to fund the transportation and housing and urban development, which from the looks of its acronym title may have been doomed from the start. the u.s. park service says there is still some green staining left after they power washed the base of the lincoln memorial. it was defaced, you will recall a week ago with green paint. along with another statue in d.c. and the pipe organ at the national cathedral. so many americans when they saw this wondered who would do such a thing. well, police have arrested a 58-year-old homeless woman for the cathedral attack. she is a suspect in those other attacks as well. the woman does not speak conversational english. she has no fixed address. she is likely to be charged with destruction of property. when we come back here tonight, she has worked her way from peewee to the big leagues, and hopes to soon hear those words, "welcome to the nfl."

. finally here tonight, a lot of barriers are made to be broken, and a big one may be about to break in the nfl. that's if one woman who has been working her way up through the minors gets her way and makes her way to the pros as a ref. our report tonight from nbc's stephanie gosk.

>> reporter: being an nfl ref can be thankless. after any given call half of these big, sweaty guys may get very angry. refs take some serious heat. but sarah thomas still wants to be one of them. >> there is a drive in me that says, "i want to nail it." i want to work the perfect game. >> reporter: thomas, a mother of three with a 7-month-old baby girl is on track to become professional football's first permanent female ref. but being first hasn't been her focus. >> if you are doing something because you love it and not doing it for recognition, things just kind of have a tendency to fall in place. >> reporter: part of the nfl's development program, thomas may ref her first regular season game in 2014. >> we got the best players in the word. we got the best coaches in the world. we need the best officials in the world. >> reporter: the 40-year-old ref has worked her way through up, peewee, high school, and

recently through the ncaa. embraced on the field now, she did get funny looks when she joined her brother at a clinic for aspiring refs. >> i just kind of broke the ice. i said "well, is this where you become a football official?" >> reporter: football is a demanding game to officiate both mentally and physically. she doesn't just need to know the rules and make the calls she has got to keep up with these guys. so she has to be fit, fast, and agile. in essence, she's got to be an athlete too. >> i see some of the women out there running. some of them look faster than the guys out there. >> reporter: she passed a quick integrity test. i am a huge patriots fan, when you do make it to the nfl, i wonder if you could maybe do something for them. they're not going to be that good this year. the team -- >> i am not hearing this lingo. no. >> reporter: sarah thomas is ready to take the field. a man's game, but soon it will be a woman's call. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new orleans. and that is our broadcast on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we certainly hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

>> ens about bay area news starts now. right now our chopper over the scene as bart workers are staging a rally and whether sile marching. they woucould be given a 72 hou strike notice anytime. >> when did they start hitting the streets? >> we don't know that. maybe in a half hour. maybe longer than that. that's the big question.

but as you can see, the plaza here behind me is filling up with bart workers. but as you can see from the chopper over head, things are getting really crowded. the rally has been going on for about an hour. now from here, bart union workers will march to 17th and franklin. and that's where the ac transit headquarters is located. they're in solidarity with bart workers. as you know, a bart strike could happen at midnight on sunday. we were told both sides were at the bar beganing table earlier today. bart management says negotiations are taking place. but one worker told me minutes ago go the public is get being fooled. >> in my opinion, i believe that the entire state of california has been duped, and the public. because they gave the image that we negotiating. they called for the